Do you do any telemarketing? How do you do it? What do you say? Do you find it works or do you find it's difficult? How do you track? What kind of information do you have before you begin? Thank you for your helpful advice. We are in a mature industry selling capital equipment to the food, pharmaceutical, and packaging industries primarily. The company has been around 50+ years and is well-respected. It is a very small company though. The reason for telemarketing is lead generation but the sales cycle is long. I don't have all day to telemarket. I don't understand a lot about the equipment. I know the basics. I think what it is you are really asking is, "does telemarketing work?鈥?The answer is simply "yes". If it didn鈥檛, you would not be getting those calls.
The how would depend on the strategies developed to reach the objectives of the campaign. You could look to an outsource services, but would suggest caution when deciding which. Many are focused mainly on the revenue per hour they can generate for their company rather than the results they will obtain for you.
The bonus on the other hand is they already have what it takes to launch a campaign when it comes to people and resources, but if they don鈥檛 understand you, your company and objectives, you could end up throwing good money after bad and no one can afford that.
The other choice is to do something in-house. All it really will take is commitment and the resources like a phone and a system for tracking results.
Either way you decide, what is crucial is the message you send. It must be clear, easy to understand and simple to act on and above all else, keep it an interesting. The huge mistake most make with their scripting is that it is too focused on trying to sell them something, rather than giving them the desire to buy.
I have heard it said that some would rather be scrubbing toilets than cold calling to develop new business and those are usually the same people that have the most difficulty. Any job we choose is going to have its challenges, including telemarketing. What makes the difference is the attitude you start with. One of the things that I have personally learnt from years spent working the phones is not see myself as a salesperson, but rather as a solution provider. This view helps me focus on problem solving with regards to the approach and the objectives of the call.
When it comes to tracking, there are many different numbers you can look at, but I rather like keeping things simple. So when I am calling for clients, I look at 3 basic numbers.
First the dials per hour, no matter what you think about telemarketing, it is always about the numbers. Bottom line, someone making 10 calls per hour will unlikely enjoy the same results as the person making 20 per hour.
The other number I watch closely is the number of decision makers I speak with during a pre-defined time frame. There are a number of steps involved to reaching the decision makers, one is what many refer to as the gatekeeper and just like we need to be prepare for when we speak with the decision maker, we also need to be prepared to speak with the gatekeeper. This is where some script development misses the mark and the message you intended to deliver falls on deaf ears.
The last number I always consider is tracking what I refer to as the next step. If you are a huge corporation you may want to take a dialing for dollars approaching to your calling where the next step is either a yes or no, where no relevant information is tracked and negative responses are thrown into the trash. The other choice is to work with a smaller more pre-defined targeted list of 500 names and aim for broader terms when it comes to the next step in you鈥檙e the flow of your sales pipeline over time.
Overall telemarketing does work, just not the way most think it should. Like any marketing campaign, the first thing you need to understand is the objectives you are looking to achieve and then building the strategies around them to achieve the desire result.
Happy Calling
John Telemarketing is as simple as picking up the phone the problem is most tend to focus on the results, rather than the steps needed to make it a success.
Feel free to contact me via my website if you would like some further assistance. I would be happy to help Report It
try arizmo.com.... always 70% less for luxury items The choice to use telemarketing depends on the type of business you have, the product your selling, and the customer relationship needed.
Telemarketing is like a shotgun. Thousands of pellets go out, less than a hundred will hit the target. It can be impersonable. It is a quick sale. It needs a very good customer service department to back it up.
That's if you use a telemarketing service, or get a bunch of college kids to call and use a script.
"Phone sales" is different. That's you or your sales people calling and trying to connect with the customer. It's a long sales cycle (usually) but good relationships with the customer are made. Repeat sales most often come from this type of sales.
If your product dictates quantity, not quality for sales to make a profit, definiately go telemarketing. Do it yourself, or use a service. I put a link below where you can find one at "Guru.com"
If the shotgun effect is not the best way to go, but you don't want to do the traditional phone sales, try conference sales. Basically, you would email/mail/call a large number of potential customers and invite them join you in a conference call. Then you could make your pitch to them all at once! The conference is impersonable, but the results are the same as if you had called each and every one. Plus, it's a different way of doing things that could set you apart.
The second link below is for a conference call company that does that kind of thing.
Make sure you choose wisely based on what your product dictates!
Hope this helps. Good luck! First, companies buy based on if your product fits a particular need so don't put pressure on yourself to say all the right things -- they have a need or they don't. Your job is to introduce yourself -- briefly -- and have it go from there.
Second, there are two good books for calling I've read that I suggest:
1. How to Sell Technology (Paul DiModica) -- I realize you're not selling technology but the same rules in the book will apply.
2. Salesguy.org (I forget the title) has a book that gives step by step calling tips and cites their research. They also had a book out some time ago about how to track your metrics.
Also, there is a book by Stephen Schiffman I've heard tells you how to track your metrics but I've not read it.
I firmly believe in telemarketing and cold calling. I make quota every year and it all starts from prospecting. I hope it goes well for you. |
